Alchemy and Art Majors
by crazy homo in space
Summary: Due to recent events, the staff at Traverse Town University would like to remind students that perpetuating rumors of student disappearance is strictly forbidden. We would also like to reassure students that vampires are not real. These two announcements are in no way connected. You have no reason for alarm, Sora. (College!AU) (SoRiku, AkuRoku)
1. Chapter 1

_Welcome to Traverse Town University. Tucked away in the glowing, historic backdrop of, you guessed it, Traverse Town, the university is home to thousands of young men and women seeking to broaden their educational horizons. Students come from all over, yearning for a truly unique, individual journey._

In the case of young Sora, he wanted more than anything to just experience the world. So he'd picked a college far away from the sheltered island he'd called home for his entire adolescent life. The beach had left an imprint on him, on his sun-loving tan skin and his loose, fun-loving personality. He was a typical freshman, enamored by the parties, the activities, the freedom… while trying to find a good balance between life and academics.

His roommate, Tidus, clearly had his priorities straight.

"Are you really skipping class again?" Sora asked in the direction of his roommate's bed. He ran a hand through the mess of gravity-defying mousy brown spikes on the top of his head. Really, having such strange hair worked in his favor. After all, people were too busy looking at the shape than wondering if the boy had showered that morning. It didn't matter that he'd been given one of the few rooms in the building with a private bathroom- sometimes the bed was just warmer than the shower.

There was no answer from Tidus' bed. Sora rolled his eyes as he made his way to the minifridge. He adjusted the tank top he wore and hiked up his shorts as he pulled out a can of Mountain Dew and cracked it open. "I know you and Yuna had a long night, but your professors have to have an attendance policy. C'mon. I'll give you one of my Zebra Cakes," he taunted playfully, picking up a package and crinkling the wrapper.

No response.

"Oh, come on," Sora sighed, walking over to the bed. "This is just sad." He grabbed the blanket and pulled it back, only to reveal…

No Tidus.

"Huh." Sora looked down at the empty bed and brought the can of liquid diabetes to his lips. Maybe he needed to pay better attention. He remembered hearing the door open.. but that was Tidus coming back, right? Maybe the Twinkies he'd eaten before bed had a hallucinogenic effect?

In a hopeful ritual, Sora sat down at his desk and woke his laptop up from its sleep. Every day, before even bothering to get ready, he checked his campus email to make sure that no classes were cancelled. He really didn't like having to hike without benefit.

"Yes, an email," he muttered excitedly to himself. Without even bothering to check the subject line, he opened it.

_Dear Student,_

_Due to unforeseen circumstances, you will be issued a new roommate. We apologize for any inconvenience, and all attempts to match you with a suitable individual in accordance to your roommate preferences will be made. _

_Thank you for your cooperation,_

_Traverse Town University Housing_

Sora sat back in his chair, eyebrow raised.

* * *

"Hi! Uh, my name's Sora. I got this email this morning about my roommate? Something about being reassigned? I think there was a mistake made. Uh, yeah, it's from an email. But- uh, my roommate's name is Tidus. Yeah. Mmmhm. Wait, how can that be right? All of his stuff's still here! That- how is that not your problem? A boy is missing! Hello? Hello?"

Sighing dramatically, Sora fell back on his bed, his phone falling onto the pillow beside him. "This is so weird," he groaned. He jumped up as a brief knock was followed by the opening of his dorm room door.

Sora didn't know if it was a good thing or not that his twin brother had followed him to college. It wasn't as smothering as one would expect, really. His twin, Roxas, had been invited to attend a prestigious private school in Twilight Town, and had done so for the entirety of high school. Everyone who met them noticed that, save for their bright blue eyes and love of unhealthily colored soda, the boys were polar opposites. Roxas' hair was short and blonde. His skin was pale, and Sora's goofy, ever-present smile was never seen on Roxas' face. Sora daydreamed, where Roxas kept both feet on the ground.

"I got your text. Now, what's exactly going on?" Roxas asked, stepping into the room. Behind him was the dorm's Resident Advisor, an eclectic-looking man named Axel. The guy was easily 6'4, skinny as sin, and had long red hair that doubled as an emergency beacon. It was unclear whether the marks under his eerily green eyes were permanent. His ears were loaded with piercings which totally pissed off the bookstore's metal detectors. Sora didn't have much of an opinion of him yet, but he seemed like a cool guy.

"Dude, he was here yesterday, and now he's not. I don't get it."

Roxas looked at Sora, brow raised. "Sora, I know you have a sense of object permanence. He probably went home for the weekend or something."

"It's Wednesday! And look at the email I got!" Roxas leaned in to take a look

Axel stepped forward. "Alright, alright, kiddos. Let me work my RA ninja magic." He pulled out his phone, and after a few minutes of tapping on the touch screen, he clicked the ball of his tongue stud against his teeth.

"Welp. Looks like your email's legit, dude. I wouldn't worry too much about it. It's still early in the semester, and I really don't think the guy is really gonna miss his.." Axel picked up a dirty t-shirt. "Did he _use _the laundry room? Does he know it's there? Was I not clear in my facility tour?"

Sora leaned back in his chair. "This is so weird. Why would he just leave like that?"

Axel shrugged. "I've seen it all, man. Sometimes college just isn't what people think it's gonna be, you know? They can't handle the parties, the harder classes, the alchemy department's really obnoxious midnight chanting over glowing cauldrons in the quad…"

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Really. Don't those guys have anything better to do?"

The conversation was halted by the opening of the door. It was strange, but.. Sora could have sworn he'd felt his heart stop for just a second.

The figure in the doorway moved like slowly flowing water. He was tall, though he only reached Axel's nose. Straight silver hair passed his shoulders and hit the middle of his back, choppy bangs partially occluded bright- wait, were his eyes turquoise? His skin was pale, his lips as white as the rest of him.

"Who're you?" Roxas asked, hostility in his voice as he sized up the stranger in the room.

"Some welcoming committee," he grumbled, voice low and smooth despite the overcoat of sarcasm. "This is my dorm."

"What're you talking about?" Sora finally spoke. "I _have_ a roommate."

The silver-haired intruder tossed his bookbag onto Tidus' old bed and sat down. "Nothing gets past you, huh, beachball?"

Axel shifted from foot to foot and grabbed Roxas' hand. "C'mon, buddy. Let's go counsel the swingers in 5A and 17A on proper condom use and STD screening," he muttered through clenched teeth, practically dragging Roxas out of the dorm room.

Sora watched as the bed-stealer pulled off his leather jacket, revealing a t-shirt with some strange symbol- probably a reference to some obscure band- layered over a long sleeved shirt with holes cut out for his thumbs. He had his feet, sneakers and all, right on top of the blankets. Sora was no clean freak, but that even made him wince.

"I think you have the wrong room, uh..?"

"Riku," the man said casually, pulling a Kindle out of his bag. "And I have a letter from Housing telling me that this is, in fact, my room."

Sora rubbed his eye. "But I already have a roommate. Well. Kind of."

Riku looked up from his Kindle. "How do you 'kind of' have a roommate?" he asked, and Sora chose to ignore the mocking in that smooth voice.

"I got an email saying he moved out."

Riku gave him a blank stare. "And you're still freaking out why?"

Sora gave a look of pure disbelief. He pointed at the Blitzball-themed bedspread, now soiled by Riku's dirty runners. "Um, why would he leave without his stuff? And without telling anyone? He won't even answer my texts! And the guy in the Housing Department seemed really short-tempered."

Riku sighed and stood, Kindle in hand. "Probably because you're _really fucking annoying_. No wonder the last person who had to live with you ran in the night," he grumbled, trudging to the bathroom and locking the door behind him.

Sora paused for a moment.

"Are you reading on the toilet?"

"_Stop talking._"

* * *

Author's Note: Hello, everyone! This is a really fun change in pace for me. I've always had a lot of fun with school AUs when it comes to Kingdom Hearts, and I'm really excited to have finally gained inspiration to write one of my own. Please leave a review if you enjoyed, and there's definitely more to come. And, as always, no copyright infringement of any kind is intended!


	2. Chapter 2

"Oh, Sora, quit whining. I'm sure he's not that bad." The girl sitting on his bed, surrounded by Biology books, notes, and class syllabi, was Kairi. She was one of the more popular girls on campus, and quickly becoming one of his best friends at Traverse Town University. She was pretty, too, with cutely styled shoulder-length red hair, blue eyes, and perpetually pink cheeks. She had the smile of a goddess, and the brain of… someone who could do unit conversion really easily.

"He's been stealing my shampoo. And conditioner. And body wash. His hair gets on every surface of the bathroom. It looks like I do some kind of charity work bathing seniors," Sora grumbled, leaning back in his chair. "Plus, he's _never_ awake before I am."

"That's a feat," she giggled.

"He steals all my food. The only thing he buys for himself are those weird breakfast shakes. I went to take one, and he totally freaked out."

Kairi stuck her tongue out. "You wouldn't like those things anyway. They're gritty and gross. But it's sounding to me like you need to talk to him about it. It's not like he's lighting your hair on fire and drowning chickens in your bathroom sink. A little bit of communication can't hurt," she shrugged.

Sora swiveled around, groaning in faux-agony. She had a point. But she had also never met Riku. He wasn't exactly the world's most sociable person. It was rare to see him interacting with others on a voluntary basis.

As if on cue, the door beeped as Riku slid his key card and entered. He dropped his bookbag with a thud, and Sora could have sworn that he felt the floor shudder. Damn, how many text books did he have in there?

"Uh, hey. What're you up to?" Sora asked lamely.

Riku took in the sight before him, and for the first time, Sora saw him smirk. "Don't mind me. I wouldn't want to interrupt your remedial science lesson," he purred, hips swaying as he sat down and reclined on his bed.

"Can you say anything nice? Ever?" Sora asked. Riku clicked his tongue as he picked up a book he'd left on the bed, next to an old bowl of what used to be Sora's ice cream. Gross.

"Am I making you look bad in front of your girlfriend?"

Sora went red. "I'm not- I mean, she's no-"

Riku just chuckled to himself, licking his finger and turning the page.

Kairi, equally embarrassed, gathered her belongings. "I think I know what you mean, Sora. I'll get going. Uh, see you in Bio tomorrow?"

"Uhh, yeah. See you then," Sora chirped lamely. As soon as Kairi was gone, he turned to Riku, face alight with anger.

"There is no way that you're actually a human," Sora criticized. "Can't you just pretend to be a good person for five minutes? Please?"

Riku looked at Sora and pursed his pale lips. "That scrunched up little face you do when you're mad is classic," he purred, crossing his legs and making himself more comfortable on Tidus' old bedspread.

* * *

It wasn't unusual for Sora to be running late. Honestly, most of his professors didn't even bother to take attendance until at least ten minutes had passed. That meant he had about.. oh, eight minutes or so to haul ass across campus.

He'd taken a shower the night before, so he was in no crisis over his cleanliness.. but it was the day before shopping day. How was he supposed to go to Biology on an empty stomach? What was worse, was that he couldn't even steal from Kairi's endless supply of fruit snacks. He hadn't seen her for a few days, and it was becoming worrisome.

His rumbling stomach pulled him out of his thoughts. He opened the minifridge, and stared blankly at the army of breakfast shakes invading the bottom shelf. He wouldn't stoop to Riku's level… would he?

He would. Riku probably wouldn't notice- he hadn't come back the night before. Maybe he was going to move out, too, just like Tidus?

Too hungry to care, Sora ripped the cap off of the shake and tossed the hunk of molded plastic in the general direction of the trash can. He brought the container to his lips as he picked up his bookbag. Being the slob he was, he hardly noticed when the contents dribbled down his chin.. but he definitely noticed when it didn't _taste_ like French Vanilla.

He touched his lips and saw red on his fingertips.

And he screamed.

* * *

"Sora?! Oh my God, what happened?! Where does it hurt?"

The first place Sora thought to go was Roxas' room. Being the responsible twin, the boy had most of his classes in the afternoon, and was often studying by the time Sora left for class. So he'd run down the hall, and damn near broke his brother's door off the hinges. In his opinion, his alarm was totally warranted.

"Roxas, stop, stop. I'm not bleeding." He batted his brother away, who happened to have grabbed a hoodie from the floor and was trying to stem some vicious wound by smothering Sora.

"You're not? Then where did-" Roxas lost his thought as Sora shoved the corrupted breakfast shake into his hand. He looked down at it, sniffed it, and grimaced.

"Riku is officially a psychopath," Sora lamented, wiping off his face with Roxas' hoodie. "Who does that? Who puts blood in a Kellogg's breakfast shake container as a prank?" he asked, voice still panicked as he wiped his mouth off as best he could. "I'm going to call the head of Housing. I'm going to call Health Services. I'm going to call the Dea-"

"Woah now, little buddy. No need to get the Dean involved." Axel finally spoke up, waving his hands. "Besides. If you raise a fuss, they'll stick you with someone _way_ worse just for bitching. Trust me, I've seen it a dozen times."

Axel raised a good point. The Dean of Students at Traverse Town University was notoriously scary. He was a roughly middle-aged man with creepy gold eyes, grey hair that looked like it'd been that color for a _while_, and a really intense tan. He invoked terror, not academic integrity and pursuit. Nobody fucked with the Dean.

Sora watched as Roxas took the hoodie back and examined it. Sure, he and Tidus had never really been a dream team… but Tidus never hid bodily fluids in bottles. Well, except for that _one _time, but they'd both agreed to expunge that from the record on account of how intoxicated they'd both been. Riku had to go. All he needed was proof that life with Riku was simply some form of cruel and unusual punishment.

"Hey, it's probably not even real blood," Roxas reasoned, picking the container up and sniffing it. Face scrunched, he put it down carefully. "Where the hell did he even _get_ that?"

* * *

For an intense situation like Operation: Confront Riku, Sora was going to need backup. Axel and Roxas were givens. He'd really wished that Kairi would answer the phone… but she was probably stricken with that weird flu that had been going around ever since the Alchemy Club released those spores across campus.

They were waiting for him when he returned from his 300-level Philosophy class. Almost a ritual at that point, they watched as he threw down his immensely heavy bag, shucked off his leather jacket, and settled down on the bed.

"Did I do something worthy of an audience?" he asked, not even looking as he booted up his laptop. They weren't doing a great job of being subtle.

The bold one in the group, Roxas stood and held the tainted breakfast shake container in front of Riku's face. Sora couldn't analyze the emotions in those ethereal blue eyes as Riku took the bottle gingerly. He peeked inside and dipped the tip of his little finger inside before licking it off. Sora's heart pounded.

"...Why did you put blood in the protein shake?" he asked, brow raised. Sora's face fell.

"I didn't! That's _yours_! I opened it, and that was what was inside?"

Riku placed the bottle on his bedside table. "Maybe that's what happens when you touch my shit?" he accused calmly, turning his attention back to his laptop.

Roxas looked at the others in the room to confirm his suspicions. "Did you just imply that it _turned _to blood when Sora picked it up?"

Riku raised an eyebrow in confirmation.

It was Axel who finally broke the silence. "Bruh."

"I know that this is Traverse Town and all, but this is _insane_," Sora cried, swiveling his chair toward his roommate. "Maybe I _should_ suck it up and take this to the Dea-"

Riku chuckled. "You? Go to the Dean? Nice try, Flounder. He'd tear you a new one for crying to him for something as inconsequential as some dorm prank."

Axel shrugged. "Told you, man. No one fucks with the Dean."

Sora groaned. "Fine. That doesn't change the fact that you're a _sociopath_," he accused.

Riku responded by blowing him a kiss.

Axel took Roxas' arm. "Hey. This has been a pretty chill chat, right guys? I'll bring by some pamphlets on solving problems. In the meantime, _communicate. _Got it memorized?" he asked, tapping his temple and shooing Roxas out. The last thing Sora heard was some line from Roxas about not having any pamphlets that 'address what to do when your roommate puts blood in protein shake bottles.'

And now Sora was determined. Operation: Confront Riku had turned right into Operation: Get Riku Out.


End file.
